A group of young Saint Lucians will get an opportunity to liaise with their peers from the neighbouring isle of Guadeloupe during an interactive social and cultural exchange visit, this month.
Rochelle Victor, is the French tutor and Chaperone for the group of students heading to Guadeloupe for the tour.
The programme entitled ‘Young People at the Heart of Cooperation’, is geared towards young people getting together to interact and socialize, to develop respect for each other, an appreciation of different cultures and getting attuned to aspects of cultural development.
The programme was organized by the Abine community in Guadeloupe, in collaboration with the Office of the Mayor in Saint Lucia.
According to Victor, a team of 30 young people will be in Guadeloupe to interact with the host group, while the Saint Lucian representatives were chosen by the different constituency councils, namely; Babonneau, Gros Islet, and Central Castries.
“Spearheaded by the Office of the Mayor, it is a great initiative and an opportunity for these young people to experience a new culture, make friends and to just interact with each other,” Victor said.
Julianna Gustave, Vice President of the Association de Ste Lucie/ America , formerly Association de Ste Lucie /Martinique explained that the unit works with all the French territories across the Caribbean and also internationally.
She said the group’s participation entails getting young persons aged 13 to 16 years from across the region, which includes Martinique, Saint Lucia, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Venezuela “to interact with each other, to socialize and exchange programmes and ideas and become more acclimatized with each other and each other’s cultures.”